First up, I gotta be honest, there is nothing Extraordinary on offer here, this album is seven cuts of bog standard indie rock Don't get me wrong, they are some good songs on offer, and I can't knock the playing or the production either, it's just that My Extraordinary are not really different from any of the other indie rock hopefuls that pass through my inbox every year. You get all the standard modern alt rock and indie influences ticked off... Coldplay, Muse, Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand etc etc etc, all the lessons of 'alt Rock Production 101' have been followed... the big choruses, the soaring vocals, angsty piano parts, huge chiming guitars... But its nothing special, just tune into the day time output of Kerrang! fm and you'll hear this sort of stuff all day long.
The first two tracks on offer The Hero That Walked Away and Heroin sound so similar that when I first played this album through I thought they were the same song and while they do change things on the other songs here, there is nothing that stands out as truly remarkable. In fact this release never strays far from the competent mark. Even Amongst The Rain, in my opinion the best track on offer, is a tad forgettable and sings from the same alt/indie rock song book as a thousand other hopefuls I can name.
All of which brings me back to the bands big claims. Is Newcastle and its surrounding area a complete musical backwater with nothing to offer but this standard pop rock fodder? Of course not, in the past few months I've had releases from the likes of Arcite, Down The Machine, The Smoking Rolo Sideshow and others that prove that Tyneside has a lot to offer the world musically. Unique? I think not. They are good, but nowhere near the claims they make for themselves.
Basically, if you like indie / alt rock this lot are worth a short look, but don't believe the hype.
For fans of... Coldplay, Muse, Radiohead, V0iD, Go Team etc....
NOTE - since posting the above I have recieved a number of offensive and peronsally threatening messages from either the band themselves and / or their supporters. So I gave them a baddish review, so what, the above is my opinion and so you can't hear what I hear, I appraoch my reviews from a neutral perspective, NOT as a fan of the band already so maybe I can hear stuff in here you may not be able to or agree with. Its a called differering opinion, get used to it. So grow up kiddies, My Extraodinary aint going to get anywhere if they or their fans are gonna start flame wars with everyone who may not like them that much, just earn themselves a rep as being complete prima-donna tossers. I have no objection to people differing with my opinion, or posting as such, after all it takes all sorts, but if you have not got the language skills to do it without personal attacks, foul and abusive language and shitty attitudes, you loose the right to comment back.
